The American Role in the Battle of Yemen’s Hodeidah; Britian’s rapacious plans in Yemen

YemenExtra

M.A.

Diplomatic sources and military sources confirmed the seriousness of the US role in the battle of the West Coast (Hodeidah), which has been an American objective since last year, when the United States, through its ambassador to Yemen, Matthew Toler, demanded the Ansar Allah movement to hand over the coastal city of Hodeidah without fighting.

The United States took actions after Ansar Allah has refused the American demand by assassinating the former President of the Supreme Political Council, the martyr Saleh al-Samad, by an American MiQ-9 aircraft on April 19, in a crime that will not be forgotten by Yemenis throughout the ages.

The US-backed Saudi-led coalition latest de-escalation on the West Coast front was only after the arrival of the commander of the US Central Command, Joseph Votel, to Aden, where he met with the leadership of forces loyal to the exiled ex-president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

According to western media outlets, US officers in the Saudi capital were overseeing a new plan to topple Hodeidah, at a time when the United States handed over to Saudi Arabia two new spy drones and provided them with “vital” information for the attack.

The American involvement was not confined to the military side, but also to the economic sphere in which the US ambassador to Yemen took part in the fight. In the recent Kuwait negotiations, Toller threatened Sana’a delegation to tighten the economic dossier after the refusal to sign an agreement that would give the coalition a diplomatic victory, which was rejected, leading to the closure of Sana’a airport, the transfer of the central bank to Aden, freezing its monetary reserves in international banks, limiting maritime traffic in Hodeidah.

What does Britain want from Yemen?

Intelligence source revealed that the British are acting to restore the gains it has lost within the region, from the Arabian Sea to the Gulf of Aden, through Bab al-Mandab, to the Red Sea.

The sources said in statements published by the “Lebanese News” that Britain is seeking to establish a permanent military base in the city of Aden under the name of “the protection of the Gulf of Aden and Bab al-Mandeb and territorial waters”, the sources pointed after the visit of the US military delegation to Aden last September, the purpose of the meeting with the Chief of General Staff in the forces loyal to former President, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Taher Aqili, and other leaders, including the commander of the fourth military zone Fadl Hassan.

According to information published by the Lebanese News, the head of the US delegation began by reminding the audience of a memorandum of understanding signed between the Yemeni authorities and the NATO alliance, whereby the latter allows the use of Yemeni territorial waters and land for confronting pirates.

This was followed by a declaration by the American official that a new memorandum of understanding would be signed, in which the Pentagon will support the former president force affiliated with the Saudi coalition in exchange for allowing the American armies to use all the sea, land and air facilities used by the Yemeni army, especially the island of Socotra Airport and its seaports, al-Anad base and all the military installations on the island of Miyoun, as well as the rest of the ports and islands within the west coast of Yemen.

The sources confirm that a memorandum was signed by the American side with a representative of the government of the the former president Hadi, pointing out that al-Aqili spoke to his companions, after the departure of the American delegation, that he was not aware of the contents of the memorandum, and that he only received instructions from Hadi and his deputy Ali Mohsen al-Ahmer head to the Saudi occupied city of Aden and meet with an American official for signing an agreement intended to support the so-called “national army,” that is proponent with the Saudi aggression on Yemen.

Moreover, al-Aqili added that he was not even aware that a previous agreement with NATO was signed in 2008.

The head of the American delegation, during the meeting, did not overlook the battle of the West Coast, stressing that an hour before his arrival in Aden, he reported that US military experts, after intensifying their supervising of the scene of the clashes and their concentrated intelligence operations, put few changes on the plan to overthrow Hodeidah.

The US ambassador to Yemen, Matthew Toler, who coordinates between the foreign and defense ministries, had advised delaying the meetings between Ansar Allah and the Hadi government, which was appointed by the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffith after experts from the «Pentagon» thought the fall of Hodeidah is close.